Page:The poetical works of William Blake; a new and verbatim text from the manuscript engraved and letterpress originals (1905).djvu/398



[To the Public]

Reader. . . . . . of books. . . . . . of heaven And of that God from whom. . . . . . . . . . ..

Jerusalem, f. 3, forming part of Blake's introduction to Chap. 1. This address, which is headed 'To the Public' (flanked on either side by the words 'Sheep' and 'Goats'), begins: 'After my three years slumber on the banks of the Ocean, I again display my Giant forms to the Public. My former Giants & Fairies having reciev'd the highest reward possible, the. . . and. . . of those with whom to be connected is to be. . . I cannot doubt that this more consolidated & extended Work will be as kindly recieved. The Enthusiasm of the following Poem, the Author hopes. . . I also hope the Reader will be with me, wholly One in Jesus our Lord, who is the God. . . and Lord. . . to whom the Ancients look'd and saw his day afar off. with trembling & amazement. The Spirit of Jesus is continual forgiveness of Sin; he who waits to be righteous before he enters into the Saviour's kingdom, the Divine Body, will never enter there. I am perhaps the most sinful of men! I pretend not to holiness! yet I pretend to love, to see, to converse with daily as man with man, & the more to have an interest in the Friend of Sinners. Therefore. . . Reader,. . . what you do not approve, & ... me for this energetic exertion of my talent.'

After this come the lines above, followed by Blake's account 'Of the Measure in which the. . . Poem is written.' Printed only by Swinb., WMR, and WBY.

1, 2 The gaps here and in the preceding prose passage are the result of flaws in Blake's stereotype, the missing words having been chipped out either by accident or design. It may have been Blake's intention to insert them by hand, but I know of no copy in which this has been done.